1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides a clamp member for securing either a punch, or tool, having a flat contacting surface or a contacting surface with a groove formed thereon to a bending press punch holder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Currently, users of straight and grooved design punches must switch between two separate punch clamps to provide the necessary surface contact between the punch and punch clamp.
A patentability search developed the following patents disclosing various clamp plate members. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,255 to Treillet discloses a clamping member designed to engage a grooved punch; Pat. No. 4,534,203 to Cros discloses a device for mounting punches on a bending press wherein a bearing spacer of variable dimensions is utilized to allow punches of different configurations to be mounted; Pat. No. 4,315,425 to Zbornik et al shows complex clamping assemblies for securing tools of various configurations; Pat. No. 4,895,014 to Houston and Pat. No. 4,787,237 to Houston et al disclose a punch support structure particularly adapted for use with grooved punches; French Patent No. 2339485 discloses a clamp plate member for supporting a grooved punch; French Patent No. 2427148 discloses a device for securing a hammer head type punch to the punch holder; Japanese Patent No. 267019 discloses a die clamping member for securing a grooved tool; and Japanese Patent No. 54524 discloses a clamping device for use in securing a metal die to the metal die fitting face.
The prior art clamping plate devices noted above are complex, particularly those designed to accommodate punches of different configurations, requiring increased levels of maintenance, the costs to a purchaser being increased as a result thereof.
What is therefore desired is to provide a clamping plate device which is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture and which allows both grooved and flat punches to be utilized with a press brake machine while maintaining sufficient surface contact between the punch and clamp plate.